Monday, August 28, 2006

signs, signs..everywhere signs

Not sure if this is a local phenomenon or something national, but here in Maryland I've noticed an interesting trend in political signs on the runup to this November's election. The Republicans are not announcing their party on their campaign signs. I was driving around a few days ago and it hit me that neither Ehrlich nor three other Republicans running for office in Maryland put the fact that they were Republicans on their campaign signs.
I thought at first that it might just be a general trend for this election among both parties, but every Democrat's sign I saw clearly marked that they were Democrats.
Why is that?
Usually something is omitted from a campaign sign because the candidate does not want potential voters to think about that fact. In this case, the Republicans seem to be afraid to remind voters that...well, that they are Republicans. The Democrats, however, do not have the same fear.
Now, this could be a Maryland phenomenon, because Maryland (despite having a Republican Governor) grows more and more a Blue State each election. Ehrlich is hanging by a thread, and Republicans running for local offices are already expecting to catch part of the Bush Backlash. But this is the first time I've seen a party act in a manor that indicates they believe their very party affiliation is a detriment...so it's better if voters don't think about it.
That's pretty profound, and may be rather telling about what Republicans are expecting in November.
I'd be interested to hear from others in other parts of the country to see if they are observing the same phenonemon.
Intersting side note, there's one Democrat in Maryland that has a billboard up of him standing next to Hillary Clinton....he's using his association with Hillary as a selling point. That means that strategists have detected a groundswell in part of the public that actually believes aligning yourself with Hillary will be positive for your campaign. That's very interesting indeed.
Sound off about signs in your area, tell me what you see.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

There's a few Charlie Crist signs on the way home from work, and I haven't noticed any political affiliation on them. I'm also pretty sure he's a Republican.

8:17 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

look to see if the state (a picture or otherwise) is in red. thats the crap Dick Devos is pulling here im MI.

1:28 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'll take a look tomorrow on the way home.

6:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I checked, Florida is red on his signs. Thanks for pointing that out.

10:16 PM  

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